Scientists see The Great Northern Forest as the boreal forest ecosystem - the global coniferous forest blanketing the northern hemisphere. The Russians traditionally call it “Taiga”. If you could look at the planet from above, it is the green crown circling the Arctic, the enormous green belt that keeps the earth breathing.

The Great Northern Forest, the boreal forest ecosystem circling the Earth

Right now, in December, the forest is covered with snow and it will melt sometime in March or April, in the most northern parts even in May.

In January, in the Russian Siberian region of Yakutsk, the average high temperature is 35 degrees below zero Celsius! Around Helsinki, Finland, it’s a bit milder with an average temperature of six degrees below free... Read more >

The diversity of nature is essential to ensure our planet remains habitable. That is why we need to stand up to all those who endanger the global web of life – those who plunder the Commons for private gain.

Back in 1992, governments agreed to conserve and fairly share the global biodiversity we all depend on. Since then, 196 countries have signed on to the Convention on Biological Diversity (the United States being the most prominent exception). This year, from December 4 to 17, governments from all over the world will meet for the biannual “Summit for Life on Earth” in Cancún, Mexico.

Thank you, water protectors.

Yesterday, the Obama administration and the Army Corps of Engineers denied Dakota Access Pipeline builder Energy Transfer Partners the final permit it needs to complete the pipeline. This is a monumental victory for Indigenous rights and a huge testament to the work of the water protectors and allies who have been gathered at Standing Rock for months.

The announcement means that the Army Corps of Engineers will undertake the full environmental impact statement it should have conducted in the first place, a process that could take months. During that time, no construction on the pipeline will be permitted.

It took an incredible display of people power to get us to this point, and it will take even more to defeat the Dakota Access Pipeline for good. Here’s wh... Read more >

I don’t speak tuna. And I fear my ability to sign in shark could be fatally misconstrued.

But next week when people from all around the Pacific and beyond meet in Fiji to discuss the future of fisheries in the region, our finned (and feathered and flippered) friends of the oceans desperately need a voice.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is responsible for managing the tuna, shark, and billfish fisheries that operate here – to make sure that there are fish and healthy oceans for future generations. But WCPFC is failing to meet the requirements of its own Convention – the goals and rules it took its members 10 years to agree on. Falling so short of the mark, a more apt name for the commission would be, We Create Pacific Fisheries Crises.

How do we reverse species loss, climate change, toxins, general overshoot of Earth’s generous habitats? We have the science, but humanity at the large scale does not appear to have the political will. We live in a pre-ecological political world, and public discourse seems corrupted by the mad clinging to those pre-ecological models of development and economics.

Forest landscapes and agricultural areas can absorb emissions like a sponge. They take carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis, and store it in wood and in the soils. Discussions about action against climate change has focused on rebuilding our energy infrastructure towards a 100% renewable energy future. But this is only one way to limit temperature rise to the 1.5° agreed by the climate change body of the the UN, the UNFCCC. The remainder of the solution lies in our forest and plant life.

Carpathian Forest in Romania, 20 Aug, 2016

We are moving ahead with building a 100% renewable future, but it will take time. If we end deforestation, forest degradation and the associated release of CO2 into the atmosphe... Read more >

Over the past week we've watched as thousands of people around the world joined our urgent call for Samsung to come up with a concrete plan to reuse or recycle 4.3 million Galaxy Note7s.

From Hong Kong to Washington DC, you called Samsung’s customer support number to ask exactly whether or not the devices will be disposed of environmentally; you tweeted #GalaxyNote7, which turned into a trending topic in Mexico and took the message directly to their HQ; and most of all you put pressure on Samsung to do the right thing!

A disassembled Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Thank you for calling Samsung

People around the world picked up their phones and called Samsung directly to ask: “What’s the plan?” Hundreds of people from Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, A...

Do you remember what it was like to be a child? Or have you recently watched your children, your friend’s children, or your nieces and nephews? Everything they see is new and exciting, everything seems possible, and everything can be turned into an adventure. It’s a shame that we seem to require reminders to switch our children’s view of the world back on.

I’ve been working for Greenpeace since 2008, and even though my work tends to be fairly desk bound, I get pretty frequent reminders about how exciting this world is and how we should push the seemingly impossible to be possible. So it seemed only fitting that my latest reminder came in the shape of small Greenpeace boat named after Margaret Mahy, a famous New Zealand author of countless dearly loved children’s books.